Pain Scale Compendium

Abstract

Pain is one of the pivotal aspects of a healthcare examination. Clinicians cannot measure pain objectively, and thus, we can only obtain a subjective report of the patient’s experience. Fortunately, the human experience of pain can be measured beyond merely its intensity. The purpose of this compendium is to present a range of pain aspects; the who, what, where, when, and how much. This is established by dividing the evaluation into the following domains: affective, beliefs, intensity, sensory quality, location, temporal, impact on activities of daily living, and population. The aim of this compendium is to present a model of various pain dimensions and to expand the number of tools available to measure pain, as pain can mean different things. With an improved capacity of pain measurement tools available, clinicians can better correlate care with more accurate pain assessments. In conclusion, we have compiled these measures to provide additional pain evaluation tools for physical therapists and other medical professionals in order to improve patient care.